Sesks came to grief on the second stage of the rally, which proved to be extremely challenging.
The same stage also claimed his M-Sport Ford team-mates Josh McErlean and Grégoire Munster. When the stage was repeated in the afternoon, Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville also retired there.
Sesks crashed after a high-speed jump. His car rolled several times and went through a wire fence.
“We are okay ourselves. The crash was at quite a high speed – I think around 175 km/h,” Sesks said on Instagram.
Watch the video of Sesks’s crash below. If the embed is not visible, you can watch the video here.
The Latvian driver had been hoping his car could be repaired in service and that he would be able to continue in the gravel rally on Saturday. However, he received bad news on Friday evening.
The M-Sport team confirmed that the car could not be repaired in time for Saturday’s stages. As a result, Sesks was forced to retire from the event.
Sesks will get his next opportunity at the Acropolis Rally in Greece at the end of June. Stronger performances can be expected from the Latvian later in the season on the fast stages of Rally Estonia and Rally Finland, which are better suited to his driving style.
Meanwhile, M-Sport Ford’s other retired drivers, McErlean and Munster, will be able to rejoin Rally Sardinia on Saturday.
